2017 Year-End Maintenance

There are just a few things you need to do to put your oysters to bed for the winter.

Give them one last good dunking up and down to wash off any accumulated silt and sediment that may have accumulated over the last three weeks.

Give the cages a good shake to keep your oysters from growing together.

Leave your cages on your dock for an hour or so to let the past several week’s growth dry out and die

Set a timer so that you don’t forget to put your oysters back in the water!

Make sure your oysters are evenly distributed on the bottom of the cage and put them back in the water.

Finally – and this is critical – lower your cages so that they are about six inches off of the bottom of your creek or river.

As you know, we get some very low tides during the winter months and it is essential that your oysters are not exposed to the freezing air! If they are frozen in water, they will be fine. If they are exposed to freezing air they will die!

If you have any questions or need any help at any time, please call Julie at 410-822-9143. We may send out a letter or two in January or February, and then starting in March as the water begins to warm up, the maintenance letters will increase in frequency. Thank you for your participation as one of our growers and please let us know if we can help you in any way.